The Venice Film Festival has a proven track record for delivering Oscar contenders. Last year, the line-up for the storied showcase included best picture hopefuls Dune and The Power of the Dog, as well as Spencer, The Lost Daughter, and Parallel Mothers, all three of which earned their leading ladies—Kristen Stewart, Olivia Colman, and Penélope Cruz—best actress nods. Due to land on the Lido for the festival’s 79th edition? Blonde, the long-delayed Marilyn Monroe biopic starring Ana de Armas; Don’t Worry Darling, Olivia Wilde’s eerie new thriller centered on Harry Styles and Florence Pugh; and Bones and All, a Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell-led coming-of-age saga following two teenage cannibals.
Ahead of Venice’s opening night on August 31, these are the 11 releases to look out for.
White Noise
An absurdist tragicomedy that plays out on the windswept hillsides, beaches, and pubs of western Ireland, Martin McDonagh’s ’20s-set character study casts Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two friends who find themselves at an impasse when the latter suddenly cuts off contact with the former. His decision prompts a town-wide schism and, eventually, a descent into violence that echoes the Irish Civil War, which rages on in the background.